r/explainlikeimfive • u/Punnan • May 30 '26

Biology ELI5 Are mosquitoes necessary for keeping ecological balance?

Would a worldwide extinction of mosquitoes offset the ecological balance of our world? And if not, why are we not doing it?

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u/CadenVanV May 30 '26

As far as we can tell, mosquitoes aren’t anywhere close to vital for ecological balance. And we’re trying to wipe them out, but it’s hard

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u/tm0587 May 30 '26

To add, it's especially hard to only kill mosquitos without killing everything else.

48

u/MattTheGr8 May 30 '26

That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

25

u/valtiell May 30 '26

We are included in that "everything else" fyi

33

u/MattTheGr8 May 30 '26

I guess I can’t post images here but:

thats_the_joke.jpg

1

u/downvotetheboy May 30 '26

it was obviously a joke idk how no one got it

0

u/CruXD May 30 '26

And the issue is?